House Republicans strike an intraparty deal for an early 2026 vote on stock trading ban

House Republicans plan to hold a vote in early 2026 on legislation to ban members of Congress from trading stock amid rank-and-file pressure to act on the issue.

But what started as a bipartisan push appears to be splitting into two partisan efforts, with Democratic leaders intent on imposing the ban on the president and vice president, too. 

A group of House Republicans met Thursday and hashed out the framework for an intraparty compromise that will only place restrictions on lawmakers.

The plan is to finalize the details and get the bill to a floor vote by the end of March.

“I think we’re going to deliver a really strong product in 2026,” said Rep. Chip Roy, Texas Republican.

Mr. Roy declined to discuss details but said the legislation will include “a lot of elements” of his bipartisan bill, the Restore Trust in Congress Act.

As originally written, the measure would ban members of Congress, their spouses and dependent children from owning or trading stocks, securities, commodities, futures or comparable economic investments.

It would require current lawmakers to divest such assets within 180 days of the bill’s enactment and future lawmakers within 90 days of taking office. 

Mr. Roy said the final legislation will be a Republican Conference product that he hopes will pick up bipartisan support.

While there are competing proposals, bipartisan momentum had been building for Mr. Roy’s bill, cosponsored by Rep. Seth Magaziner, Rhode Island Democrat. 

Florida GOP Rep. Anna Paulina Luna filed a discharge petition to force a vote on the bill, but it is still significantly short of the 218 signatures needed.

House Republican and Democratic leaders both opposed the discharge petition for different reasons and are now pushing separate proposals.

House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries, New York Democrat, said he would not back the bipartisan bill unless it also banned presidents, vice presidents and their spouses from stock trading.

Mr. Magaziner released a new bill this week that added that provision and reportedly said he will launch a discharge petition on it.

Mr. Jeffries told reporters that Democrats are first focused on seeing their discharge petition to extend enhanced Obamacare subsidies for three years get a vote after it reached the required 218 signatures on Wednesday. The vote cannot take place until the House returns in January.

“We’ll cross the next bridge when we get to it,” he said.

Mr. Jeffries made clear that any ban on stock trading must extend to the executive branch.

“There is absolutely no justification for the president, who has far more power than any individual member of Congress, or the vice president, to be able to trade stocks in real time when they have more access to inside information that perhaps the entire United States Congress combined as it relates to regulatory activity,” he said.

The emerging GOP bill will not satisfy Mr. Jeffries’ demands.

“The executive branch has rules,” Mr. Roy said. “Right now, we’re trying to just focus on cleaning up our own mess, and then we can try to look elsewhere if we need to.”

House Speaker Mike Johnson, Louisiana Republican, met Thursday with Mr. Roy, Ms. Luna and other Republicans pushing the stock trading ban, including Reps. Tim Burchett of Tennessee and Nancy Mace of South Carolina.

The lawmakers left the meeting confident that the emerging legislation would achieve their underlying goal. 

“No more insider trading,” Ms. Luna said, promising the bill that is being put together “is going to be good.”

“I think it would be stupid for any member of Congress to not vote for this,” she said. “It is the most bipartisan issue. Now, we have to make sure that the Senate does it too. But there’s also talk about potentially changing the House rules to get this effected immediately.”

Ms. Luna said the executive branch already has stronger rules for stock trading than Congress.

“If Congress had these same rules for stock trading as the executive branch, there wouldn’t be insider trading,” she said.

The House Administration Committee held a hearing on the stock trading issue in November. Some lawmakers said the Restore Trust in Congress Act went too far in banning the trading of all commodities and forcing people to divest.

Mr. Johnson has expressed personal support for a stock trading ban to end “any appearance of impropriety,” but said he understands why other lawmakers have misgivings about it, as congressional salaries have been frozen since 2009 and have lost 31% of purchasing power when adjusted for inflation.

President Trump has said he would sign a congressional stock trading ban if lawmakers sent him one.

But the president lashed out when Sen. Josh Hawley, Missouri Republican, teamed up with Democrats in July to advance a bill out of the Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee that banned lawmakers, the president and vice president and their spouses and dependent children from stock trading. 

“I don’t think real Republicans want to see their President, who has had unprecedented success, TARGETED, because of the ‘whims’ of a second-tier Senator named Josh Hawley!” Mr. Trump said on social media.

Mr. Hawley quickly spoke to Mr. Trump, who had been misinformed by other Republican senators that the bill would force him to sell his assets, and told reporters about their conversation. 

“I said that is absolutely not true at all,” Mr. Hawley said. “I said your assets are all protected. It applies to the next president. … He finished by saying, ‘You’re totally exonerated, Josh. We love you.’”

The Senate, however, has not taken up the bill amid opposition from other Republicans.